Left me behind
by Solar Princess
Summary: What if Willow died instead of Tara? Please R&R, it's my first Buffy fic. * edited, Ch. 3 up*
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from Buffy.

Imagine that, when Tara was killed, it was Willow who was standing with her back to the window, and it was her who got killed. How will Tara react? How will she cope?

A shot was fired through the window. Willow was shot and she fell to the floor

"Oh god!" Tara cried out. "Come on Willow, please, open your eyes!"

"I'm sorry, and I love you" whispered Willow sleepily.

"Why are you sorry?" Tara replied, with tears in her eyes. "Speak to me!"

"I have to go. Goodbye, baby, I love you."

Tara was crying hard now. "I love you too, but don't go! you can't leave me. Don't.........."

But it was too late, Willow was already gone, and would never return.

Tara couldn't believe what had just happened, and held Willow until she heard an ambulance, and looked out the window where the shot that ended everything in her world came from came from. She saw Buffy, lying on the grass being treated by paramedics.

Slowly, Tara laid Willow down, and made her way downstairs.

She went to the back garden, and walked towards Xander.

"Tara are you-" Xander started to say.

"W-who did t-this?" Tara began speaking with great difficulty because of her fear and because she had been crying so much.

Angrily, Xander replied "Warren, he wanted to get rid of her for good. I hope he didn't get anyone else, because he fired a few badly aimed shots over his shoulder."

"W-Willow"

"What?" Xander looked Tara in the eyes for the first time since she came down. He thought her stuttering was just because of Buffy, but he saw so much pain, he knew it had to be something much worse.

"W-Willow, he s-shot Willow. In our room." Then she couldn't say anymore, and broke down in tears again.

"Oh god." Then he turned to the paramedics, "There's someone else upstairs."

Xander told them which bedroom it was.

When she finally regained herself, Tara stuttered "She's d-dead Xander. Willow's g-gone, and she left m-me behind."

"Oh no," Xander never thought this would happen to his friends. He didn't think they should suffer any more. "this _has_ to be a dream. If it is, I really need to wake up now."

Tara started to feel scared of facing the world alone. "S-she's gone ah-head of life, a-and she left me b-behind."

What did you think? R&R and let me know. Next chapter coming soon.


	2. Shattered

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Buffy.

There was a note taped on the notice-board in the kitchen of Buffy's house to Dawn left by Xander. It read:

__

Dawn, 

There's been an accident. Please don't worry. We're all at the hospital, and I'm coming to pick you up at 4:00. 

Xander.

Dawn quickly read the note, and voiced her opinion to herself. "Oh god. Oh god. How reassuring." 

She looked at her watch, and decided that incase anyone was around, she would stop talking to herself, so they wouldn't think she was gone loopy.

'Well' she thought_ 'it's 3:57. Please let rush hour be delayed!_'

Dawn walked upstairs to her room to put down her school bag. The door to Willow and Tara's room was open, and she saw the shattered glass on the floor and the broken window. 

"Oh my god." she cried aloud.

She heard the front door open and then heard Xander call

"Dawn, are you here?"

Dawn ran down the stairs

"Xander, what happened?"

"It's Buffy and Willow. They " he paused for a moment. Things still hadn't sunken in, and he couldn't believe what he was about to say "They've been shot."

"Oh no." Dawn suddenly looked very weak. "I-I need to sit down."

Xander helped her to the living room, where she sat, and kept pinching herself. She desperately wanted this all to be a dream, and thought that if she kept pinching herself, she would eventually wake up.

When that didn't work, she tried the 'you-must-be-kidding' approach. "This isn't real. It's not happening right? It's just a joke right? Please, Xander, tell me it's a joke."

"I wish I could." Xander replied solemnly.

"Are they okay?" '_Maybe it isn't as bad as it seems' _she thought.

"The doctors are working on Buffy, but Willow............"

"No. No! Are they sure?" Dawn stood up now, because she couldn't keep sitting.

"She..... she died in Tara's arms before the ambulance came." Xander was getting frustrated with having to give all the bad news.

Dawn began to cry, but then said "We have to get to the hospital. I have to see Buffy. We need to be there for Tara."

Dawn burst in the doors of the emergency room waiting area, with Xander following her.

Dawn spotted a nurse. "Where's Buffy?" 

"Buffy Summers?" the nurse asked. "Are you related to her?"

"I'm her sister" replied Dawn. 

"Oh, hello," said the nurse. "Well the doctors are working on her right now."

"Do you know how much longer it's gonna take." Xander asked, sounding impatient, but trying not to.

"They should be finished soon. If you want, I could get you some coffee?" 

"No thanks. Dawn?" 

Dawn shook her head, then said "I have to see Tara."

"Okay, she's in here."

Xander ushered Dawn into a room and shut the door.

Tara was sitting on a comfortable looking chair, with a look on her face that implied that she was still trying to understand what had happened. Her face was very tear-stained.

Dawn rushed over and hugged her, and started crying again.

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, a doctor knocked on the door and came in.

"I'm very sorry." He began, "We did our very best, and tried so hard to save her. But the bullet was too near her heart."

Please R&R. I've shocked myself too much to write anything else.


	3. Taken

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Buffy.

The gang were still in the hospital, about half an hour after hearing of Buffy's death.

Suddenly, Xander realised that Anya had to be told. Since he was then only one who could actually form complete sentences without trailing off into silence, he figured that he was the one who should tell her.

When he dialled her number, he just got the answering machine. 

The message went: 'Hey, Anya here. If this is someone looking for vengeance, tell me when and where to meet you at the Bronze, and if I can, I'll find you. If this is Xander, get lost you stupid idiot! and if this is anyone else, leave a message, and I'll get back to you. But if it's something to do with money being taken away from me then-'

The message stopped there because there was a limited amount of space to leave your greeting, but obviously, Anya didn't grasp that concept.

"Anya, it's Xander. If you're there please pick up. I'm calling from the hospital. Warren shot Buffy and Willow, and they're both dead. Please come, we need you........"

Anya arrived in a flurry, her face tear-stained, and she then went to Xander, and started shouting at him.

"You should have called me straight away! Why didn't you? I was as close to them as anyone else here."

"Well," Xander didn't want to cause anymore of a scene as there already was, so he lied and said "the lines must have been down or something, because I tried you a ton of times, but only got through when I left that message."

"Oh, alright. Can, um, can I see them?"

"Sure. I left Dawn to have some time alone with Buffy, so we'd better start with Willow."

They walked into the silent room, where Tara was sitting, holding Willow's hand, as if she was going to wake up.

Willow looked like normal, just very pale and there was a lot of blood on her clothes. 

Anya always felt a lot of power and warmth coming from Willow, and it felt strange to be in the same room as her and feel nothing. She did feel a little something alright. From Tara. It resembled what she felt from Willow, and wasn't exactly weak, but it was very damaged. There was so much pain and aching.

Anya spent some time sitting in there, but eventually, she felt she had to leave. It was as though something was wishing her to go. So as she turned to leave, she figured whatever it was wanted Xander gone to, so she grabbed his arm and dragged him out the door.

Xander opened another door, and in there was Dawn sitting by Buffy.

"So guys," she began asking, "When can we bring her back?"

"Dawn," Xander thought she understood, "we can't bring Buffy back."

"What are you talking about, of course we can. I'm sure Tara can do it, or maybe one of you guys."

"No Dawn-"

"Xander, I'll tell her." Xander kinda felt glad that Anya cut in.

"Dawn, sweetie, we can't bring her back. The last time, we used a one-of-a-kind-definitely-won't-be-made-again-ever object. It's gone now. It broke as part of the spell."

"Oh, well, I'm sure I can adjust" Dawn said that in a very pained voice, and it was clear she was blocking her feeling, for now at least.

"Hey," Xander thought that it would be better to get out of the hospital-y atmosphere, "Who votes we go home, and get some rest?"

Back at the house, the next day, everyone felt it was good to keep busy. Xander began fixing the window, Anya did some cleaning, and Dawn made food for the hungry workers. They all felt that they would just sit in silence, staring into space if they didn't occupy their minds. They all did their best to avoid that, except Tara, who hadn't been out of bed since she got home from the hospital the night before. Only, she wasn't in a bed, because she didn't want to stay in her room, and she didn't want to be in Buffy's room, she didn't want to be in Dawn's room either, so she slept on the couch, and Anya worked quietly around her.

Please R&R and let me know what you think so far.


End file.
